Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1882 — FIRE IN NEW YORK. [ARTICLE]

FIRE IN NEW YORK.

Loss SI,OOO,OOO—A Number of Persons Burned to Death. A disastrous fire, entailing a loss of about $1,090,000 and the death of at least seven persons, occurred at New York in the five-story building with two cellars owned by Orlando B Potter, and occupying the south half of the triangular block bounded by Park row and Nassau and Beekman streets. The building was almost exclusively occupied by people engaged directly or indirectly in the printing and publishing business. A number of weekly papers, among them the Observer, the Scientific American, the Turf, Field and Farm, the Scottish American and others, had their offices there, and there, too, several leading advertising agencies were located. Adjoining and separated by a party wall, was the .office of the New York Times, which narrtiwly escaped complete destruction, aud near by was the posto&ce bui fling, which was at one time thought to be in great danger. In the rickety old fire-trap in which the flames originated, and which should long ago have been remodeled or else pulled down as a dangerous structure, were employed 500 people, who were all at work when the fire broke out in the hall on the lower floor. The rush for safety through the narrow passage dev<loped with terrible force the danger that had long been known to exist. The means of egress were shamefully insufficient, and an awful horror filled the hearts of the vast multitude which assembled in the City Hall Park as spectators of the frightful drama. The scenes as described in our dispatches were fearful almost beyond imagination—soo people penned up like rats in a blazing trap leaping from the .windows to find death on the cruel pavement below, or falling back into the flames through fear of taking the appalling leap; 100,000 people gathered to watch the issue of life and death, powerless to save or succor. Six or seven persons were taken from the building by firemen or others on the Nassau street side, eight or ten on Beekman street, and five or six on Park Row. The number of deaths assured is five. Ellen Buck, a colored woman 34 years old, janitress of the building, who jumped from the fifth story and had her skull fractured. Joseph Cunningham, foreman of the Observer com-posing-room, 55 .years old, who used to set type at the same stand with Horace Greeley, and was an intimate friend of both he and William Cullen Bryant, burned in the ruins. Richard 8. Davey, an Englishman, a compositor in the Scottish-American office, fell from a fourth-story window ; 40 years <*>" age; left leg, left arm and lower jaw fractured, and severe internal injuries. Allred W. Harris, 38 years old. The assistant foreman of the Observer composing room burned in the building. Mary Blount, New Jersey. Mary O’Connor, city. Mary Smith, city. William Stubbs, photographer, Brooklyn. Three others. Four weekly newspapers were burned out. The postoffice escaped ignition by closing its iron shutters. Munn & Co., of the Scientific American, lost a large amount of patent nm-.1-els. els. A. M. Stewart, editor of the Scottish American, was rescueO by one of his compoaitors.